Rotary fluid device



J1me 1965 w. v. BROWN 3,191,541

ROTARY FLUID DEVICE Filed Dec. 26, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 25 3 Fla];

27 n E? h 3 V 28 INVENTOR.

M444 TER MBRoWN Arron/vs);

W. V. BROWN June 29, 1965 Filed Dec.

lNV TOR. W41. TER V. BRoW/V BY %,2%M

ArraRn/E YJ United States Patent 3,191,541 ROTARY FLUID DEVICE Walter V. Brown, Minneapolis, 'Minn., assignor to Brown Steel Tank Company, Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Filed Dec. 26, 1961, Ser. No. 161,919 8 Claims. (Cl. 103-436) This invention is a novel rotary fluid device which may be either a reversible flow pump or a reversible motor. It is novel principally in having an open centered rotor with ports that connect the open center of the rotor to its periphery. Cooperating with the open center rotor are a pair of sleeves that provide a valving mechanism for connecting a port of the fluid device to either side of the rotor and simultaneously connecting the opposite side of the rotor to another port of the device. By this means, the device may either be a pump in which the direction of flow of fluid can be controlled even though the pump is driven unidirectionally, or it may be a reversible motor with fluid under pressure applied at a fixed port.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of this invention to provide a novel rotary fluid device.

It is another object of this invention to provide a novel rotary fluid device that can function as a reversible flow pump though driven unidirectionally.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a reversible direction fluid motor in which the fluid under pressure may be applied at a fixed port.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a reversible flow unidirectional pump in which the flow of the pump may be varied from full to zero flow in either direction while it is in operation.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a reversible rotary fluid motor in which the quantity and direction of force applied to the rotor thereof may be controlled While it is running from neutral to full force in either direction without turning off the supply of fluid under pressure.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a reversible flow unidirectional pump in which all of the valving for reversing the flow of the pump is internal.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a reversible fluid motor in which fluid is always applied to the same port thereof and the direction and force of rotation is controlled by internal valving.

Other and further objects of the invention are those inherent and apparent in the apparatus as described, pictured and claimed.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, this invention then comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed.

The invention will be described with reference to the drawings in which corresponding numerals refer to the same parts and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a longitudinal section of one form of sliding vane rotary fluid device embodying the invention with broken lines illustrating hidden parts; a portion of the controlshaft is deleted to conserve space;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line and in the direction of the arrows 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line and in the direction of the arrows 33 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an isometric projection of the rotor of the device shown in FIGURE 1 with a portion thereof broken away to illustrate its construction more fully;

the valve of structure shown in FIGURE 6 with a part. thereof broken away to illustrate its construction more ice FIGURE 5 is an isometric projection of the sleeve valve structure of the device shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 6 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 of a modified form of the rotary fluid device; broken lines illustrate hidden parts;

FIGURE 7 is an isometric projection of a portion of fully; and

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line and in the direction of the arrows 8-8 of FIG- URE 6.

Turning now to the drawings and specifically to FIG- URE l, the invention is shown embodied in a vane type pump having a central housing portion 10 within which the rotor 11 is eccentrically mounted. At each side of the central casing or housing portion 10 are the port portions designated 12 for the one at the right and 13 for the one at the left. In the illustrative embodiment shown herein, a central case portion 10 is clamped between the end portions 12 and 13 by suitable means such as the tension bolts 14. The port structure 12 has an internally threaded conventional port 15 and a similar port at 16 is provided for the port section 13 of the pump. Suitable end caps as at 17 for case portion 12 and 18 for case portion 13 are secured conventionally to their respective case portions. At 19 is shown a bearing for rotor shaft 20,. and appropriate seals as at 21 and 22 seal the bearing against the material being pumped entering the bearing or bearing grease escaping from the bearing. A suitable bearing 24 supports the other end of the rotor and rotor shaft assembly. Between shoulder 25 and cap 26 is seal 27 which occupies all of the space between bearing 24 and the shoulder 25. a

The rotor The rotor 11 is novel in that it is provided with a central opening here shown as cylindrical and connected to the periphery of rotor 11 by suitable passageways 28; see FIGURE 4 as well as FIGURE 1. The rotor is also provided with conventional sliding vanes as shown at 29 which may be spring loaded outward in a conventional manner and which structure being well known is not illustrated in detail. The rotor is additionally novel in-having the spider arrangement shown at 30 to connect the rotor to the rotor shaft 20 while permitting free flow; of fluid either to or from the open center of the rotor at its end.- The spider 30 and the rotor shaft 20 are secured together for simultaneous rotation by suitable means such as key 31.

Valving Within the hollow center 27 of rotor 11 is the valving structure; see FIGURE 5. As shown here illustratively, the outer sleeve 32 is provided with a flange 34 which, as shown in FIGURE 1, is secured to the stationary plate 26 and hence held stationary. There is a pair-of ports in sleeve 32 which are spaced 180 degrees apart; 35 for the upper and 36 for the lower. Web portions 37 connect the ends of the sleeve intermediate of the ports.

Sleeve 32 fits within the cylindrical open center of rotor 11 which rotates about the sleeve 32. A substantially fluid-tight connection is formed between the outside of sleeve 32 and the bore 27 of rotor 11.

Slidably fitting within sleeve 32 is a control sleeve 38.

. It has a pair of ports 39 and 40 which are spaced 180 degrees around the sleeve from each other and also spaced axially from each other. A partition 41 separates these two ports with respect to each other also. Sleeve 38 forms a substantially fluid-tight pivoting fit within sleeve 32. A shoulder 39 of sleeve 38 bears on the outside of flange 34. The spider structure 44 connects the control sleeve 38 to the control shaft 45. Any suitable linkage or other means (not shown) may be secured to shaft 45 for the purpose of pivoting control sleeve 38 within sleeve 32.

Referring again to FIGURE 1, there are grooves provided at strategic places for the insertion of fluid seals such as at 46 between the rotor and sleeve 32, at 47 between plate 26 and sleeve 32, and at 48 between plate 18 and shaft 45. The seals have been omitted to avoid confusion in the drawings. They are conventional seals,

. however, and no patentability is claimed with respect to them.

FIGURE 2 shows a clear view of the orientation of the sleeves 32 and 38 as well as partition 41 to the rotor and case. FIGURE 3 shows a view looking to the left in FIGURE 1 so that the spider assembly 44 shows clearly and again also are seen the tubes or sleeves 32 and 38 is section. Because ports 35 and 36 extend the entire width of the rotor, they appear in both of these sectional views Only port 39 appears in FIGURE 2, however, and in FIGURE 3 only port 40 may be seen.

At 49 may be seen a thrust bearing against which the end of sleeve 38 maybear, and the sleeve is, therefore, positioned axially by the shoulder 42 and thrust bearing 49.

. Modified form' In FIGURES 6, 7 and 8, a modified form of the device shown in FIGURES 1-5 is seen. The case including the two port portions of the device, bearings and rotor are identical in this. form of the device with that previously described. For this reason, the numbers assigned to all of those parts in the previously described disclosure will also be used here. In the modified form of the device shown in FIGURES 6, 7 and 8, the outer sleeve 50 of the valving system is very similar to that used in the previously disclosed form of the invention, and it has a flange member 51 which is seen to be conventionally secured to plate 26 as before. This sleevealso has in it two ports 52 and 54 which are of a length equal to the width of the rotor and extend around a good share of the sleeve being spaced 180 degrees from each other on the top and bottom thereof. In fact, the principal difference between the two structures is the control sleeve 55 as compared to control sleeve 38.

Turning for a moment to FIGURE 7, the control sleeve 55 will be seen to have two ports cut in its cylin: drical side walls at 56 and 57'which are spaced 180 degrees circularly around the sleeve as in the case of the outer sleeve 52.. These two ports are separated by a longitudinally extending web 58 and by two semi-circular partitions at 59 and 60 which limits fluids flowing in at one side of the sleeve 55 from reaching the other side except via the outer sleeve and the rotor ports. Notice near the two semi-cylindrical walls or partitions 59 and 66 are the semi-cylindrical ports 61 and 62. Again, some means must be provided for pivoting sleeve 55 with respect to sleeve 50 and in this case, it is by means of the shaft 64 being secured to a stub shaft 65 of sleeve 55 in any suitable manner as by the pin 66 extendingthrough both of them. The shaft 64 has a shoulder on it at 67 which bears against thrust bearing 49 and provides together with a; shoulder at 68 of sleeve 50 and a flange 69 on sleeve 55 a means for limiting axial movement of the sleeve 55.

Operation For purposes of explaining the operation of the device, reference is made to FIGURES land 3. For the position of control sleeve 38 illustrated herein and assuminga direction of rotation, let us say clockwise, the operation of the device illustrated as a pump would be thus: in clockwise rotation of rotor 11 it can be seen that as the vanes 29 move from left to right across the top of case 10 that they slide out to engage the eccentrically posi- I tioned case and in 5. thing are defining chambers of in creasing size as the rotor rotates. Contrariwise, the vanes 29 after they pass the midpoint vertically in rotation, and then moving from right to left at the bottom of the housing will be defining compartments of ever decreasing size.

As shown in FIGURE 1, the port 39 is connected to compartments of increasing size which will hence be areas of low pressure. Since port 39 is exposed via the hollow center of sleeve 38 to the openings in spider structure 3t? and hence to port 15, port 15 will become an intake port for fluid presented to the pump. Referring now to FIGURE 3, we see that the port 4t) is presented to compartments of decreasing size and hence will be a high pressure area filled with the fluid received previously in the rotation of the pump and which will be expelled from these chambers of decreasing size inwardly through the ports 28 in the rotor and in through the port ii in sleeve 38 and hence out through the spider assembly to port 16, the discharge port in this particular instance.

With the rotor continuing to be driven in the same direction, now assume that shaft 45 has been turned by any suitable linkage until the port 39 faces down and the port 41 faces up. Port 16 will then be connected to the chambers of increasing size, or low pressure chambers, and port 39 will be connected to the ports of decreasing size or high pressure chambers and as a result the port pump 16 will become an intake port and the port pump 15 an exhaust port.

At intermediate positions betweenthese two extremes the pump will deliver fractional amounts of its capacity and thus the amountthat is pumped may be controlled even though the pump is driven at a constant speed. Furthermore, if the shaft 45 is rotated exactly degrees, an equal portion of each of the ports 39 and 40 will be exposed to the high pressure and low pressure chambers of the pump. Under these circumstances, no pumping occurs even when the rotor is turning.

When the device is used as a motor, whichever port is secured to a source of pressure, may be applied to either side of the rotor to produce rotation in either desired direction. This is accomplished in the case of the motor in the same manner as reverse flow in the pump was achieved, namely by rotating or pivoting the sleeve 38 degrees with respect to the housing.

The operation of the form of the device shown in FIG- URES 6, 7 and 8 would be identical to that described for the form of device shown in FIGURES l-5 except that fluid would flow through one of the semi-cylindrical ports 6162 in passing into the device and out through the other. Reversal of flow when used as a pump or reversal of direction when used as a motor would .be identical with that described in relation to the device shown in FIG- URES 1-5.

Although the device has been shown and described as a vane-type pump or motor, it is also obviously a rotary fluid device having a rotor that is smaller than and eccentrically mounted with respect to the case surrounding the rotor. Accordingly, the scope of the claims is intended to include any fluid device having a rotor eccentrically mounted within a case and creating compartments of increasing and decreasing size at opposite sides thereof as the rotor rotates.

It is apparent that many modifications and variations of this invention as hereinbefore set forth may be made with out departing from the spirit and scope thereof. The specific embodiments described are given by way of example only and the invention is limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

What is claimed:

1. A rotary fluid device of the type having a rotor eccentrically positioned in a housing and including means for producing chambers of increasing size at one side of said rotor and decreasing size at the other side thereof as said rotor rotates, characterized by:

(A) said'rotor (1) having a central opening (2) ports extending from the outside of said rotor to the central opening,

(B) inner and outer hollow cooperating members (1) fitting within the opening within said rotor (2) in substantially liquid-tight relation to said rotor and each other,

(3) said inner hollow cooperating member shiftable in relation to said outer hollow cooperating member,

(4) and having cooperating port structure therein adapted to alternately and selectively connect either end of said hollow cooperating members for fluid flow to either side of said rotor and simultaneously connect the other end of said hollow cooperating members to the opposite side of said rotor,

(5) the port structure in said outer hollow cooperating member including a first and second opening through most of said outer member on opposite sides of a line bisecting said housing between said increasing and decreasing chambers for a distance at least as great as the width of the parts in said rotor,

(C) means for shifting said hollow cooperating members in relation to each other (1) secured to said inner hollow cooperating member and (2) extending to the exterior of said housing,

(D) a rotor shaft (1) secured to said rotor via a spider (2) and extending to the exterior of said housing.

2. The rotary fluid device of claim 1 in which said hollow cooperating members are sleeves the inner one of which has ports therein spaced angularly and axially and separated by a vertical partition.

3. The rotary fluid device of claim 1 in which said hollow cooperating members are sleeves the inner one of which has ports therein spaced angularly and separated by a horizontal portion and semi-cylindrical vertical parti tions.

4. The rotary fluid device of claim 1 in which said means for shifting the inner one of said hollow cooperating members is a shaft secured to said inner hollow cooperating member via a spider.

5. A rotary fluid device of the sliding vane type characterized by:

(A) arotor (1) that has a cylindrical central bore,

(2) ports extending from the cylindrical central bore to the periphery of the rotor between the vanes thereof,

(B) an outer sleeve (1) fitting within the cylindrical central bore of said rotor and in substantially fluid-tight relation,

(2) ports spaced 180 degrees apart in said sleeve,

(3) said ports including first and second openings in most of said outer sleeve on opposite sides of a center plane for a distance matching the length of the ports in said rotor,

(C) an inner sleeve (1) fitting within said outer sleeve in substantially fluid-tight arrangement,

(2) pivotable with respect to said outer sleeve through at least 180 degrees,

(3) a pair of oppositely facing ports therein,

(4) means separating said ports from each other within said inner sleeve,

(D) a control shaft (1) secured to said inner sleeve and 6 (2) extending to the exterior of said pump housing, (E) a rotor shaft (1) secured to said rotor via a spider (2) extending to the exterior of said housing. 6. The rotary fiuid device of claim 5 in which said means separating said ports in said inner sleeve comprise said ports being spaced axially in said inner sleeve and a vertical partition in said inner sleeve between said ports. 7. The rotary fluid device of claim 5 in which said means separating said ports in said inner sleeve comprise a horizontal partition in said inner sleeve extending between said ports and a semi-cylindrical vertical portion at both ends thereof on opposite sides of said horizontal partition.

8. A rotary fluid device of the sliding vane type having a housing characterized by:

(A) arotor (l) having a central opening (2) ports extending from the outside of said rotor to the central opening between the vanes thereof (B) inner and outer hollow cooperating members (1) fitting Within the central opening within said rotor (2) in substantially liquid-tight relation to said rotor and each other (3) said inner member movable relative to said outer member (4) and having cooperating port structure therein adapted to alternately and selectively connect for fluid flow either end of said hollow cooperating members to either side of said rotor and simultaneously connect the other end of said hollow cooperating members to the opposite side of said rotor, (5) the port structure in said outer hollow cooperating member including an opening through most of the wall of said outer member for a distance coinciding with the length of the parts in said rotor, (C) means (1) secured to the inner one of said hollow cooperating members for moving it, (2) extending to the exterior of said housing, (D) a rotor shaft (1) secured to said rotor via a spider (2) and extending to the exterior of said housing.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Taylor 91146 JOSEPH H. BRANSON, JR., Primary Examiner.

LAURENCE V. EFNER, Examiner.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFI CE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,191,541 June 29, 1965 Walter V. Brown It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered pat ent reqliring correction and that the sa id Letters Patent should read as correctedbelow.

Column 3, line 18, line 23 and column 6, read ports for "is" read in column 5 line 38, for "parts",

each occurrence,

Signed and sealed this 30th day of November 1965.

(SEAL) Attest:

Commissioner of Patents 

5. A ROTARY FLUID DEVICE OF THE SLIDING VANE TYPE CHARACTERIZED BY: (A) A ROTOR (1) THAT HAS A CYLINDRICAL CENTRAL BORE, (2) PORTS EXTENDING FORM THE CYLINDRICAL CENTRAL BORE TO THE PERIPHERY OF THE ROTOR BETWEEN THE VANES THEREOF, (B) AN OUTER SLEEVE (1) FITTING WITHIN THE CYLINDRICAL CENTRAL BORE OF SAID ROTOR AND IN SUBSTANTIALLY FLUID-TIGHT RELATION, (2) PORTS SPACED 180 DEGREES APART IN SAID SLEEVE, (3) SAID PORTS INCLUDING FIRST AND SECOND OPENINGS IN MOST OF SAID OUTER SLEEVE ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF A CENTER PLANE FOR A DISTANCE MATCHING THE LENGTH OF THE PORTS IN SAID ROTOR, (C) AN INNER SLEEVE. 